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Frostburg State's University Theatre has scheduled four mainstage productions for the 2002-2003 season.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein hit musical "South Pacific" opens the season on Friday, Oct. 11, at 8 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center's Drama Theatre. Additional evening performances are set for Oct. 12, 17, 18 and 19. Two Saturday matinees have been scheduled for Oct. 12 and 19 at 2 p.m.

Based on two short stories from James Michener's wartime collection "Tales of the South Pacific," this classic musical focuses on two love stories. The first involves the unlikely attraction between Nellie Forbuch, a naïve Navy nurse from Little Rock, Ark., and Emile de Becque, a worldly French planter. The second tells the tale of the tender, tragic romance between Lt. Joe Cable and a young island girl.

The lush score, including such hits as "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger than Springtime" and "There is Nothing Like a Dame," combined with the serious themes of racial prejudice, hate and the effects of war on a formerly pristine paradise, made "South Pacific" the second musical to win the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for 1949.

The next production, "The Laramie Project," is a contemporary work that explores the aftermath of the vicious murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, a gay student attending the University of Wyoming. Performances are scheduled in the F. Perry Smith Studio Theatre at 8 p.m. on Nov.15, 16, 21, 22 and 23 and Nov. 15 at 2 p.m.

Developed by award-winning director Moisés Kaufman and members of the Techtonic Theatre Project, this production is a moving and inspiring theatrical experience told through the eyes of the townspeople of Laramie, Wyo., who served as both witnesses to and participants in the aftermath of Shepard's murder on Oct. 12, 1998. This collective-collaborative creation, compiled from more than 200 interviews and presented through more than 60 real life "characters," is presented as a docudrama, a format both theatrical and real. Time Magazine called it "one of the top ten plays of 2000," and said, "The Laramie Project is nothing short of stunning. It is not to be missed!"

An American comedy classic, Clare Booth Luce's "The Women" is scheduled for 8 p.m. performances in the PAC Drama Theatre on March 7, 8,13,14 15 at 8 p.m. and March 8 at 2 p.m.

When it premiered on Broadway in 1936, "The Women" caused a sensation as it proceeded to shatter many cozy myths about matrimony. Described as "gleefully malicious," the play satirizes a group of New York socialites, their twisted marriages and the delicious gossip that is their undoing. Thanks to its laugh-out-loud humor, for nearly 65 years, "The Women" has enjoyed successful runs and revivals, including a sell-out 2001-2002 New York production.

The season closes with "Flyin' West," a fact-inspired drama by Pearl Cleage that focuses on a family of women who leave the racism and sexism of the South to go west in search of freedom. Performances are set for 8 p.m. on April 25 and 26 and May 1, 2 and 3 in the F. Perry Smith Studio Theatre. A matinee is scheduled for April 26 at 2 p.m.

The time is 1898 and the place is Nocodemeus, Kansas, an all-black town named for an African-born slave who bought his independence. Cleage wrote the play after reading about the crusading journalist, Ida B. Wells, whose Memphis newspaper columns of the 1890s urged African-Americans to leave home and find freedom in the West. "On the surface it's about homesteaders in the American West, pioneers, " Cleage says, "but it's also a way to talk about contemporary issues, like race, gender, class, feminist issues."

For information and reservations for all University Theatre productions, call (301) 687-7462 between 1 and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Season Discount Cards, available to the general public for $30, allow cardholders to attend "South Pacific" for free. Tickets for individual performances are $10 for the general public. Student tickets are $4 for all performances.

FSU is committed to making all of its programs, services and activities accessible to persons with disabilities. You may request accommodations through the ADA Compliance Office, (301) 687-4102, TDD (301) 687-7955.